abstract.io/n

This is Chad Whitacre's
philosophy website. I am researching abstraction as a way to
understand the self and human culture.

Thinking is abstraction. Abstraction is the trading off of
information for power, for the sake of flourishing.

When I cognize a computer screen as a collection of liquid
crystals, I have before me detailed information concerning these
crystals: their size, arrangement, power consumption, molecular
properties, etc. I am sensitive to slight variations between one
crystal and its neighbors. However, I cannot, while inspecting the
LCD screen as a collection of crystals, use the computer. I perform
an abstraction when I trade in my detailed view of the liquid
crystal display for a cognition of the user interface it conveys.
Now I can use the computer, though in exchange I have given up my
awareness of the nuances of each individual crystal.

This abstraction enables others in turn. From the cognition or
awareness of a user interface as such, I turn my attention to the
cognition of application windows on the screen. I abstract from
windows on a screen and cognize a web page. Processing the visual
design of the web page, I zero in on a passage of text. I focus my
attention on the letters and punctuation. From these, I cognize
words. Words yield to grammatical constructions. Grammar gives way
to propositions. I take these propositions and fit them variously
into my worldview. At each step, I have traded in the opportunity
for detailed knowledge at a lower level for the benefit to be
gained from the higher level.

The benefit of performing an abstraction is this: it enables
further abstractions. Digital circuits and analog circuits share a
common root in electromagnetism and the fundamentals of circuits.
However, the digital abstraction yields computers, while the analog
abstraction yields only cassette tapes. The former abstraction is
more fruitful than the latter. An element of the lower level thus
benefits from participating in a fruitful abstraction by continuing
to exist. Who uses cassette tapes any more?

Applying Abstraction

If indeed abstraction is the basic principle of human cognition,
then it would be expected that cognitive neuroscience and cognitive
psychology would unveil the mechanisms of abstraction in our
minds/brains. Furthermore, it would be expected that abstraction
can unify the explanation of all phenomena of human culture,
because these all have cognition at their root. So all cultural
projects, from art to religion to science to philosophy to
government, would be able to be more elegantly reformulated in
terms of abstraction. Lastly, we would expect a general, popular
understanding of abstraction to contribute to the further
flourishing of our culture/species.